Associated Press
Army secretary says he'll resign if Enron investigation becomes a distraction
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Army Secretary Thomas White says he will give up his post should the federal investigation into his
previous employer, Enron Corp., pull him too much from his military duties during the war on terror.
"I thought I could do something good for soldiers and their families," White
said Wednesday in an interview with reporters. "That is my focus. If I ever
get to a point where that's no longer possible, it doesn't make any sense to
stay when somebody else could do a better job."
The former Enron executive said he is complying with requests for
documents from the Justice Department, which is investigating the
company's activities.
"I'm a big boy. I was in it," White said. "I'm not a victim. I'm not a
perpetrator, either."
He said he is turning over to the Defense Department "a bunch" of military
and personal documents relating to Enron. The Pentagon will supply the
papers to Justice Department investigators.
It's unclear if the papers include documents related to White's role, as head of the Enron subsidiary Enron Energy Services, in a
1999 deal in which the company won a $25 million, 10-year contract to provide utility services to Fort Hamilton, an Army base
in Brooklyn, New York City.
White said he would resign if the Enron investigation should take too much of his time or if he should feel his role in the matter
caused troops to lose confidence in his leadership. He denied wrongdoing in his dealings at Enron.
He said he was as surprised as the rest of the country by the energy trading company's collapse in December and the
subsequent allegations of massive fraud.
White said he has sold all of his interests in Enron, as required by his Army post.
He said he retains membership in an annuity fund for Enron retirees. The fund has paid nothing since Enron's collapse, however,
and White has joined other retirees in filing a claim in the company's bankruptcy.
White acknowledged frequent contacts with Enron officials during the company's collapse but said none provided him insider
information that affected his stock sales. He reiterated earlier statements that no one at Enron asked him to use his influence to
help the company, and he had not done so.
He said virtually all his conversations with former Enron colleagues "would have involved some comment or discussion relating
in at least a general way to Enron's financial condition."
White's critics have said they want to know whether his conversations with Enron officials prompted him to finish his stock sales
quickly, before Enron's shares hit bottom. Enron's stock hit a low of 26 cents by the end of November, White's deadline to sell.
White made about $12 million from selling his Enron shares, the last of which he sold Oct. 30 at $12.86 a share.
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